TradieGal Tutorials: Pro painting tips

02 Mar 2022

In this TradieGal Tutorial, professional painter and decorator Tegan Williams reveals her pro tricks to using a paint rollerto paint a feature wall.

 TradieGal Tutorial: How to roll like a pro

The feature wall of our bedroom has a fireplace, and it’s a feature in itself, so we really wanted to make it pop with paint. We decided to go for a darker colour, Resene Chapta And Verse, as the room gets so much light and it makes it feel even bigger. The wall has about three layers of wallpaper and had already been painted over, so I decided to make life easier and paint over it again. Minimal prep was required – removing old wallpaper is a whole job in itself.

First, I covered the ground with my Resene drop cloths before masking out any area I didn’t want to get paint on. Masking tape is your friend if you want straight lines.

I started out by cutting in the top, bottom and sides using a brush and then cut around some picture hooks I wasn’t able to remove. For this job, I used Resene Zylone Sheen tinted to Resene Chapta And Verse.

When starting to roll a wall, I find it’s best to start at least a roller’s width from the edge and the midway point in the wall. This means the bulk of the paint will be at the middle starting point so when you roll over to the edges, the paint on the roller will be even. When you work your way back to the starting point, you will pick up the excess paint and even out that area.

Always work from one side of the wall to the other to help maintain the wet edge. My favourite roller for walls is an 8mm nap microfibre roller. This holds a good amount of paint and has minimal ‘orange peel’ effect on the finished product.  Check with Resene ColorShop staff the right roller sleeve for your job.  You can take in your old roller sleeve and they can let you know whether it is suitable before you start.

Allow the paint to dry and then apply a second coat.  Most colours will only require two coats.  If you are going from very dark to very light or very light to very bright, you may need an undercoat or an extra coat. 

Avoid overspreading the paint so this will affect the colour intensity. 

Top tip

To use a roller, lightly dampen the sleeve before use. If using a full-sized roller, pour approximately 3/4 litre to 1 litre of your Resene paint into the roller tray and roll the sleeve in the paint until it’s thoroughly soaked – this could take a couple of minutes.

Roller care

If you need to take a break, stop painting at a natural endpoint on the wall to ensure you don’t end up with lap marks. To keep your paint fresh while you take a break, submerge the roller head in paint in the roller tray, then put a reusable plastic bag around the entire tray to keep out the oxygen. This will ensure your roller stays wet and save you having to wash the roller out and wasting paint. When you’ve finished the job, clean the roller immediately by rolling out the excess paint, then dipping it in a bucket of water – push the paint out of the roller using the Resene paint scraping hand tool with clean water.

Published: 02 Mar 2022